


Off the Shelf

by The_Exile



Category: Time Stalkers (Video Game)
Genre: Community: ladiesbingo, Dolls, Gen, Inspired by Music, Post-Game(s), Spoilers, Worldbuilding, maybe mild Pyra/Marion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27232123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/pseuds/The_Exile
Summary: Pyra finds Marion in her own world, once again deactivated.
Relationships: Pyra & Marion (Time Stalkers)
Collections: Ladies Bingo 2020





	Off the Shelf

**Author's Note:**

> for ladiesbingo fill, wildcard, '22.2 When I'm 64: Future'. Also inspired by playlist on shuffle, song 'Waiting For You', Silent Hill 4 OST

Moments after she finished uttering the last syllable of the incantation, she was thrown back by an enthusiastic, tight, wooden-jointed flying hug.

"I knew you'd return for me!" the animated doll cried out, helping the sorceress off the floor of the arcane laboratory rather more forcefully than she'd meant to, nearly yanking her arm of of the socket. Pyra discreetly wriggled out of her grasp with the use of a minor magical force field, then dusted down her dress with another simple cantrip. 

She sat herself down on a stool while Marion peered down at her own arms and legs with intense concentration, then began loosening up, moving the joints one by one in her fingers, then her arms, then her legs and feet, finally her neck and the hinge of her mouth. A few of the joints still creaked or felt too loose, despite Pyra's meticulous care of the doll. When she'd found her on the shelf of the antique shop, collecting cobwebs, she'd been poorly maintained, paint chipping off and hinges left to warp. She'd needed a new coat of paint, a thorough polishing, her hair tidying up and as much repair done to her woodwork as Pyra actually knew how to do, being a mage who occasionally carved staves and simple amulets, not a professional woodcarver. 

She'd still cost five hundred gold. Pyra was fuming at the rip-off merchant but it was difficult to hide her urgent need for the doll. If someone else bought Marion, things would get a whole lot more complicated. She doubted the merchant knew that Marion was alive, he was probably just making the most of having a valuable antique doll, but it was still impolite to take advantage of a delicate lady's feelings like that.

"It feels like I haven't moved in forever," Marion finally cried out, stretching and yawning.

"I must admit, I have no idea how long you'd been on that shelf," said Pyra, offering her a jar of varnish, a cup of tea probably being something that living wooden puppets couldn't drink, "The merchant said you were a five hundred year old relic he'd been handed by an adventurer who found you in an ancient ruin but that old swindler says a lot of things," she sighed, "To be honest, I didn't even know you existed in the same world as me. I thought you'd gone back to wherever it was you lived. It should have occurred to me, really, seeing as animated puppets are a thing that the sorcerers on the mainland do all the time."

"I also did not know this," Marion replied, "I have no real sense of time, or where I am. I have never known much about the world, only the places I had seen while I travelled with the circus, as well as people who talked to me or near me," she frowned, "But over time, everyone went away. I wandered around looking for someone to take care of me but then I ran out of the magic that animates me."

"Yeah, it took a while to charge you up again," Pyra admitted, "Whoever designed you must have had a lot of power to spare. They had to have been masters of wizardry and doll-making to create something as sophisticated as you, anyway."

"Thank you," she raised her hands to her cheeks theatrically, "If I could blush, I would."

"You said you were expecting me, though."

"Of course. I remembered that you found me last time. You were always the one to repair me and reanimate me and tell me about how to live in the world as a person. You're my dearest friend, one of the few people special to me, so I knew you cared enough about me to find me again."

It was Pyra's turn to embrace her. She smelled nice, like warm, freshly carved wood with the slight tang of benevolent magic.

"I won't leave you alone again."


End file.
